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Immigration Minister Chris Evans has accused the previous Government of allowing long-term detainees to languish in immigration detention centres.

Senator Evans has finished his review of the 72 people who have been in detention for longer than two years.

Thirty-one of them have been granted visas, 24 are in the process of being deported, and the cases of another 17 are still to be resolved.

The cases of another 17 will take longer to resolve.

The Minister says unlike the former Government, he has taken action.

"The previous government didn't seem to be very effective in actually getting people removed and tended to just leave them in detention," he said.

"I'm certainly keen to resolve their cases as well and so of the 24 due for removal, five have already gone and I'm seeking to fast-track the others."

Senator Evans says 33 of the detainees are from China.

"There's a range of claims - obviously some of them have claimed Falun Gong type connections, others have just had a range of other issues," he said.

"I don't want to go into each personal case but we've made an assessment that I ought to use my intervention powers to grant them a visa."

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